To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Sungkyunkwan University SKK GSB organized a series of "Where are you now?" interviews with alumni to find out how they are doing in their careers and what life has been like since graduation.

SKK GSB Full-Time MBA Class 14th Graduate: Eamon Byrne

Eamon Byrne, who founded a startup in the UK last year, visited Sungkyunkwan University's SKK GSB in August. He is one of the alumni who maintains a strong relationship with the professors and has a special affection for the school.

Although five years have passed since he graduated in 2019, the fact that the places he visits to give himself a break are Korea and SKK GSB shows just how deep his affection for Korea and his alma mater is.

He said, "I got into Innovate UK’s High Growth AI Accelerator for startups, so my life is going to get very busy. Before that, I would like to come to Korea and visit SKK GSB."

After graduating from SKK GSB, Eamon worked at a startup in Korea for a year and then went back to the UK, where he joined the global strategy consultancy firm Simon-Kucher. This company was founded by Dr. Hermann Simon, the author of 'Hidden Champions' and known as the 'Peter Drucker of Europe'. Eamon’s consulting focus was on commercial strategy, including pricing, marketing, and new product monetization.

While Eamon enjoyed his time in consulting, he said “my intention has always been to try to start my own business at some stage. Last year, AI made many amazing breakthroughs, and then I thought, this is the perfect time to start my own business!"

Eamon's engineering background provided him with essential technical expertise, while his MBA from SKK GSB equipped him with broad business acumen. This blend of skills has proven invaluable as a founder, enabling him to navigate both the technical and commercial challenges of building a business.

He is developing an app called "Tellme" that uses AI to offer new experiences to visitors of attractions. Imagine visitors talking with any exhibit at a museum, guided by a virtual assistant that answers all their questions in 50+ languages.

Eamon stated, "In a museum, you can have thousands of items, but they only provide an audio guide for a limited number of objects. Those guides are also tediously long and one-size-fits-all. I may have completely different interests from another person, yet they provide the same description to everyone." Unlike an audio guide, Tellme embeds AI throughout to offer individualized experiences that adapt to each visitor's preferences. So far, he has partnered with a national museum in the UK and Merlin Entertainments, the world's second-largest attractions company.

Eamon said that the things he learned in his MBA helped him a lot while establishing his startup. He explained, "It's still in the early stages, so I have to handle all the technical aspects, create the business plans, and manage the marketing. I guess a lot of founders are learning these things for the first time, but since I learned all about new business planning, marketing, sales, and financial management at SKK GSB, I already encountered a lot of this before."

What are the reasons he, originally from Northern Ireland, completed his MBA in Korea, particularly at SKK GSB, among other Asian countries?

Eamon answered, "I have always had a great interest in Asia, but I fell in love with this country during an internship at the Korean Institute for Energy Research (KIER) in 2015. Considering that SKK GSB is Korea's number one MBA and is also ranked among the global top 100, I chose to complete my MBA at SKK GSB. I also appreciated the well-equipped international environment, given that over 60% of both students and professors were from abroad."

He advised prospective applicants and SKK GSB students that visiting and talking to the professors is very advantageous. Eamon said, "They're all so interesting and open. As I remember, they left their doors open, and you could just walk in anytime and talk about anything business-related. I hope that every student takes advantage of those opportunities."